Sheila Stewart and Arlene Morell joined the show to share their
experiences attending the People for Education
Conference as well as a conversation about board-wide Parent Involvement
Committees and how they
can network to support student achievement. Sheila is a parent of two
teens from Thunder Bay. She has volunteered in schools and on school
councils at the elementary and secondary levels. She has been a member
of their district's "Council of School Council Chairs (CSCC) for 7
years, and was a representative for that committee on Lakehead District
School Board's Parent Involvement Committee for 4 years. She is
currently a school council co-chair at the secondary level, and
continuing her support for school council chairs as a coordinator of the
CSCC network meetings. She has also been an active network member of
People for Education.

Arlene Morell directs and coordinates the Thames Valley Parent
Involvement Committee ( TVPIC) since its inception in 2006. Her
experience in the field of parent engagement and leadership includes 15
years as a parent leader both at the local and system level. As the
chairperson of TVPIC , Arlene oversaw the development and implementation
of parent involvement programs and initiatives including school council
leadership development. She coordinated workshops, training sessions
and conferences and developed school council resources Arlene also
implemented a collaborative partnership with the Co-terminus District
School Council and PIC. This partnership between the public and Catholic
school board has realized many joint initiatives in a manner that
builds community supporting student achievement, This shared vision
for building stronger educational partnerships and communities has lead
the parent leadership team \to jointly advocate for parent engagement,
anti-violence/bullying initiatives, reducing media violence, children
with special needs, mental health issues – and more.

31:37 - Gay Stephenson
Yes, I agree. Paule from Quebec is doing some amazing things with her community schools in this regard. Using web video conferencing to bring in pschologists to give a talk to parents at each of her schools

32:53 - Sheila Stewart
Will PICs communicate to all parents, or will school councils communicate to their parents with the support of PIC? Writing this before I forget

33:14 - Jeannine St. Amand
Moving from "advice" role to "leadership" role sounds excellent - challenging, but excellent!

33:15 - Kim Caise
hi Nicole!

33:25 - Kim Caise
so true @jeannine

33:28 - Sheila Stewart
hi Nicole

33:32 - Kim Caise
absolutely @lorna

33:56 - Sheila Stewart
I use lots of TVPIC resources!

33:59 - Nicole Larsen (@audiochik)
Hello

34:02 - Kim Caise
is that accessible outside of Canada?

34:09 - Kim Caise
great!

34:12 - Kim Caise
will check it out

34:20 - Kim Caise
awesome!

34:50 - Jeannine St. Amand
Will the PICs be voluntary, or is there compensation involved?

35:37 - Arlene Morell
no pay involved

35:39 - Gay Stephenson
voluntary is the way they are set now

35:51 - Arlene Morell
now?

36:43 - Kim Caise
your blog posts about parent involvement are fantastic and love the tools you share with the parents

36:55 - Kim Caise
does each PIC have a blog?

36:58 - Kim Caise
or not yet?

37:35 - Gay Stephenson
Kim, are you talking to Arlene, or Sheila or me?

37:41 - Kim Caise
anyone

38:01 - Kim Caise
Gay, I am interested how the communication from the committees are

38:02 - Arlene Morell
I have a blog and setting up a blog for Thames Valley

38:20 - Kim Caise
do the PICs use web tools and blog for that same purpose?

38:51 - Kim Caise
who 'creates' the PICs?

39:11 - Sheila Stewart
the Ministry mandated them

39:24 - Gay Stephenson
In schools @ the centre everyone can create a blog or a discussion - we have many PIC chairs contributing to the conversations, answering and asking questions

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